Ukraine is developing killer drones to fight the Shahed

Ukraine is implementing a new strategy to combat Russian drones, consisting of three stages, Bild reports. The main goal is to stop Russia’s air superiority, which is causing significant problems for Ukrainian forces at the front.

Conventional measures, such as destroying Russian airfields or shooting down aircraft, are limited due to agreements with Western allies. Therefore, Kyiv and its partners are actively working on new solutions to counter the air threat.

Stage 1: Quadcopters against Russian reconnaissance and kamikaze drones

Ukraine has already made progress in this area by reprogramming small drones for aerial combat. As a result, Ukrainian drones are shooting down about 50 Russian reconnaissance drones every week, as well as several larger kamikaze drones.

Phase 2: Development of improved fixed-wing drones

The main problem with small quadcopters is their limited range – at high altitudes, they can only fly a few kilometres, which allows Russian reconnaissance drones to easily avoid them. Therefore, Ukraine is developing ‘fixed-wing interceptors’ that can pursue russian adversaries at an altitude of up to 4 km at a distance of up to 60 km. These ‘anti-drones’ are already being tested and are due to be put into service this year.

Phase 3: Developing killer drones to fight the Shahed

The main goal is to develop killer drones capable of intercepting and destroying Iranian Gheran-1 and Gheran-2 drones, which Russia is actively using. To be effective, these drones must reach a speed of at least 200 km/h and have a range of 200 to 500 km. The price is also important – Ukraine plans to introduce these systems no later than 2025.

At the moment, Ukrainian forces have to use expensive Patriot and IRIS-T missiles (€4 million or €500K per shot) to destroy Russian drones costing as little as €50K.

Earlier, the Ukrainian military demonstrated a new approach to the use of FPV drones by equipping them with a thermite-based incendiary mixture.